CGI
CGI, or c'omputer-'''g'enerated 'i'maging (or imagery) is the next level up in advancement from producing special effects (SFX) traditionally such as constructing physical studio models or miniatures, manipulating film elements in post-production, matte-painting and the like. Most of the Star Trek series still used traditional methods of creating SFX such as miniature models of the starships; it was not until Star Trek: Enterprise that these methods were abandoned completely. ]] and Romulan starships in ]] The very first CGI used in Star Trek, was in , where Industrial Light & Magic was responsible for the Genesis effect. Very limited CGI was used in ''Star Trek: The Next Generation due to the expense of creating CGI images at the time. However, with the advent of commercially available off-the-shelf software packages, most notably LightWave 3D, costs of generating CGI dropped noticeably after 1993 and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager implemented it in the late 1990s, the latter series having it implemented from the very beginning (in the title sequence). DS9 was particularly well served by CGI, allowing the series to showcase the Dominion War battle scenes that would have been impossible using models. Of the Star Trek production team, David Stipes and to a lesser degree Dan Curry were the foremost advocates of applying CGI, Stipes already overseeing some of its earliest applications, during the sixth season of TNG. Nevertheless, both DS9 and VOY started out predominately with traditional methods of producing special effects, the former achieving complete transition to CGI during its sixth season and the latter during its fourth season. Star Trek: Enterprise was exclusively done in CGI for almost all exterior ship shots as were the movies from onwards. Cost-effectiveness by that time had reached a level that made CBS Studios take the decision in 2005 to retro-apply CGI to Star Trek: The Original Series for virtually all its exterior SFX shots, resulting in the 2006 remastered version of TOS. The perceived cheapness of CGI has been put more in perspective by Adam Lebowitz, at the time modeler and effects supervisor at Foundation Imaging,"I think the cost-effectiveness of it came slowly into play. A lot of people say, "CGI is a lot cheaper, isn't it," but the way I like to think of it is that CGI is not cheaper neccessarily, but you get a lot more for your money and you can tweak it a lot more. They producers like that, because with motion control if they had a complex shot that had a small problem it would be very, very expensive to go back and reshoot all the elements. But in fact I don't like to use the word "cheaper"; CGI is more versatile, far more cost-effective." (Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 1, Issue 6, page 47) Appendices Background Computer software CGI made its tentative entry into the motion picture industry in the 1970's in movies like , , , and . In most cases the CGI were limited 3D- s, aptly used as computer displays. Models were generated using computer programs, developed at universities or by in-house programmers of SFX companies, meaning that interchangeability was non-existent. The first solid 3D CGI models were featured in the movies and . Though, in the first case, critically acclaimed, the movies were considered commercial failures and convinced directors and producers of the time that CGI models could only be used in instances where models were supposed to look like computer-images. Things changed dramatically in when the movie was released and the TV series Babylon 5 premiered. Modelers at ILM and Foundation Imaging used the in commercially released first version of the software package (then called "Video Toaster Suite") to create life-like convincing 3D CG imagery. The success of both productions meant the definitive breakthrough of CGI in the motion picture business and LightWave and its successive versions has become the premiere software package for its creation. The list of productions having used LightWave since 1993 is impressive http://www.newtek.com/lightwave/projects.php and within a decade, traditional methods of producing SFX was relegated to the fringes. Adam Lebowitz, no doubt speaking from experience, estimates that it will take six to twelve months of study in one's spare time to master the LightWave software.(Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 1, Issue 6, page 51) As a consequence designers and modelers like Doug Drexler, John Knoll and Larry Tan made the transition from the traditional way of producing SFX to CGI. Computer hardware CGI companies require a lower capital lay-out than full-fledged production companies as Lebowitz eloborates: At Foundation, most of our workstations are regular off-the-shelf PC's of which dropped sharply in the 1990's-the same as anyone reading the magazine probably has. Fast Pentiums with lots of RAM (286 megs or more) is about average. We don't need a lot of hard disc space, since all the frames get stored on a massive server. The render engines, which create all the animation frames, are a mix of Pentium computers and DEC Elphas (a faster PC). Other equipment includes videocards with Open GL, a mode that lets you preview LightWave scenes in a sort "rough draft" mode in real time. All our machines also sport "Perception" caqrds from DPS, which allow us to compile the final frames into full screen video playback. We also have a soda nmachine with a built-in icemaker!(Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 1, Issue 6, page 47) The relative low capital lay-out (essentially only office space and computers), however was also partly responsible for the high turnover in number of CGI companies, especially in the early days. As easy as it was to startup a company, it was also as easy to close down companies in situations as slow business (Amblin, Foundation) or hostile take-overs (Digital Muse). In case of bankruptcy a specific problem arises as Lebowitz showed in response to the question if Star Trek: Voyager could be transferred to High Definition,"''When Foundation closed down, the servers – '''along with the content – were auctioned off. Much of the content may have been saved by artists who worked on the series, but it would have to be tracked down. No matter how you slice it, it would be a considerable amount of work to re-integrate the entire Voyager visual effects server and re-render the FX in HD. In addition, although the series was shot on film, the entire post-production process was finished on NTSC video; to create an HD episode of Voyager, Paramount would have to go back to the vaults, re-transfer the film and re-built the episodes from scratch using the original editing data – if THOSE files still existed."http://darthmojo.wordpress.com/2008/06/20/sci-ficandy-voyager-strikes-back/#comment-830 In a similar earlier case with Digital Muse, Paramount, had the good sense to retain ownership of the contents and the the whole contents of Digital Muse's server was transferred one-on-one to the servers of its successor Eden FX. Durability of CGI models After 'CGI' was introduced in the production of movies and television shows (the definitive breakthrough in the latter achieved by Foundation Imaging for the TV show Babylon 5), a further advantage besides versatility and economics, was believed to be the longer endurance of the CGI models over their physical counterparts. In practice however, reality has proven to be more stubborn in regard to the last argument. Advances in software and ineptitude at the studios in handling their property (amongst others in the situation described above in Foundation's case), have to this day caused CGI models to be of a far more fleeting nature than physical models. Adam "Mojo" Lebowitz explains: When a CGI company is hired to do FX for a production, in theory all the assets they create are property of the studio. A smart studio should probably ask for regular backups of data for a variety of reasons, most important of which would be safety backups and potentially the need to re-create the work elsewhere. However, this rarely happens, most probably because it’s just not anyone’s assigned job. Who asks for the data? Who checks it? Where do they store it? Who keeps the records? All this would need to be answered and a process implemented and in most cases, either no one has thought it through or wanted to spearhead a new headache. Even if the data was backed up, if someone wanted to load up a spaceship model ten years later, success would be hard to come by. Do they have the right software? Since no two companies ever name their hard drives with the same letters or use the same directory structure, will the new user know where to find the files when their computer tells them, “can’t find G:/spaceship/wingtip/test/nogood/deleteme/finalimages/nosecone.png?” Even if all the ducks are in a row, often times the CG company, knowing full well the data they provide might be used to cut them out of the picture, will purposely not make it easy for the studio. Sure, they’ll provide the models as asked, but not the setup/assembly files (hey, setup files are technically NOT the model). All this means is that the more time passes, the less likely it will be to re-create CG scenes. If all the data and the directory structure on a company’s hard drive remains untouched, it’s fine, but the moment you start to back stuff up and clear it off the server, your chances of success begin to dwindle. Some companies have hired data management specialists to protect against this sort of thing (will Pixar encounter a “data chasm” when attempting to re-render all the scenes from the first two TOY STORY movies for their 3D releases?). However, since it means more money and something else to worry about, this is the exception rather than the rule. When Foundation tried to restore data from the first season of B5, we discovered that the backup software had automatically truncated all file names to 8.3 characters – so when Lightwave was looking for a texture map called “StarfuryWingLeft.PNG,” all it could find was a string of files called “Starfur*.***” This would mean a user would have to load each image map into Photoshop, figure out what it was and were it was supposed to go and essentially rebuild the model from random data. In essence, everything from the first two seasons were lost. The data was still there, but reconstructing it would have been a nightmare. I don’t know what Warner Brothers did to “lose” their own copy of the B5 files, but unless companies are more stringent about their data management in the future, I’m afraid there will always be a dozen reasons why the data can be “lost” forever. The irony of all this is that when the switch was made from physical models to CG, everyone assumed we had entered a golden era when models would no longer fall apart in a warehouse somewhere, never to be used again. “We have CG now, things last forever!” If only.http://darthmojo.wordpress.com/2008/06/20/sci-ficandy-voyager-strikes-back/#comment-834 CGI suppliers to Star Trek *Industrial Light & Magic ** (Genesis effect) ** (destruction of Praxis, morphing effects of Martia) ** ( , , , Warp effect, destruction of Amargosa system and Veridian III, Nexus) ** (several federation shipclasses, Temporal vortex) ** *The Post Group **TNG Season 1 (Crystalline Entity) *Rhythm & Hues **TNG Season 4 (Junior (spaceborne lifeform)) **DS9 Season 1 (Wormhole effects) *Digital Magic **TNG Season 6 (shattering effect in , spacial phenomena in ) *Santa Barbara Studios **TNG Season 7 (D'Arsay archive and spacial phenomena in ) **DS9 Season 1 (meteor effects in title sequence) **VOY Season 1 - 3 ( , spacial phenomena and effects) ** ( , federation shuttles, Son'a shipclasses, spacial phenomena and effects, space battles} *Amblin Imaging **TNG Season 7 (emergent lifeform in ) **VOY Season 1 - 2 ( , spacial phenomena and effects) *VisionArt Design & Animation **DS9 Season 1 - 5 ( , , Jem'Hadar battle cruiser, Odo's morphing, spacial phenomena and effects) *Video Image **DS9 Season 2 ("Blob" alien in ) *Foundation Imaging **DS9 Season 5 - 7 (Ships, spacial phenomena and effects, space battles, species) **VOY Season 3 - 7 (Ships, spacial phenomena and effects, space battles, species) **Star Trek: The Motion Picture (The Director's Edition) ( , spacial phenomena and effects) **ENT Season 1 (Ships, spacial phenomena and effects, space battles, species) *Digital Muse **DS9 Season 5 - 7 (Ships, spacial phenomena and effects, space battles, species) **VOY Season 3 - 7 (Ships, spacial phenomena and effects, space battles, species) ** (spacial phenomena and effects) **ENT Season 1 (Ships, spacial phenomena and effects, space battles, species) *Eden FX **VOY Season 7 (Ships, spacial phenomena and effects, space battles, species) **ENT Season 1 - 4 (Ships, spacial phenomena and effects, space battles, species) *Digital Domain ** (Ships, spacial phenomena and effects, space battles) ** *CBS Digital **TOS-remastered (Ships, spacial phenomena and effects, space battles) Starships, stations and structures rendered as CGI ''Star Trek Films * -refit (premiered in Star Trek: The Motion Picture (The Director's Edition), built at Foundation Imaging) * -refit (premiered in , built at ILM and this version, the first Federation starship seen as a CGI model only used in this film) * (premiered in . built at ILM} * (premiered in , built at ILM, this version only used in this film) * (premiered in , built at ILM, this version only used in this film) * (premiered in , built at ILM) * (premiered in , built at ILM, upgraded at Digital Muse for ) * (premiered in , built at ILM, upgraded at Digital Muse for ) * (premiered in , built at ILM, upgraded at Digital Muse for ) * (premiered in , built at ILM, only used in this film) * (premiered in , built at ILM, upgraded at Digital Muse for ) * (premiered in , built at Santa Barbara Studios, this version only used in this film) * (premiered in , built at Digital Domain, this version only used in this film) * (premiered in , built at Digital Domain) *Scimitar (premiered in , built at Digital Domain) *Drydock-type (premiered in , built at Digital Domain) * Romulan capital (premiered in , built at Digital Domain) ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' *D'Arsay archive (premiered in , built at Santa Barbara Studios, the first model in Star Trek which had no physical production counterpart) ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' *Deep Space 9 * (premiered in renewed title sequence of , built at VisionArt) * (premiered in renewed title sequence of , built at VisionArt) *Jem'Hadar battle cruiser (premiered in , built at VisionArt}} * (premiered in , built at Digital Muse) * (premiered in , built at Digital Muse) * (premiered in , built at Foundation Imaging) * (premiered in , built at Foundation Imaging) * (premiered in , built at Foundation Imaging) *Jem'Hadar battle cruiser (premiered in , new version built at Foundation Imaging) *Jem'Hadar fighter (premiered in , built at Foundation Imaging) *Jem'Hadar battleship (premiered in , built at Digital Muse) * (premiered in , built at Digital Muse) ''Star Trek: Voyager'' * (premiered in , built at Amblin Imaging, upgraded at Foundation Imaging) * (built at Santa Barbara Studios as back-up, eventually not used) *Borg cube (premiered in , built at Foundation Imaging) *Mawasi cruiser (premiered in , built at Foundation Imaging) *Nihydron warship (premiered in , built at Foundation Imaging) * (premiered in , built at Foundation Imaging) * (premiered in , built at Foundation Imaging) * (premiered in , built at Foundation Imaging) * (premiered in , built at Foundation Imaging) *Devore warship (premiered in , built at Foundation Imaging) * (premiered in , built at Foundation Imaging) *Drydock type (premiered in , built at Foundation Imaging) * (premiered in , built at Digital Muse, upgraded at Foundation Imaging) * (premiered in , built at Foundation Imaging) *Borg tactical cube (premiered in , built at Foundation Imaging) * (premiered in , built at Eden FX) CGI species ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' * Crystalline Entity (premiered in , built at The Post Group) * Junior's species (premiered in , built at Rhythm & Hues) * Emergent lifeform (premiered in , built at Amblin Imaging) ''Star Trek: Voyager'' * Ba'neth * Bevvox * Hanonian land eel * Hyper-evolved Human (only newborns) * Macrovirus * Nacene * Nucleogenic lifeform * Space-dwelling lifeform * Species 8472 ''Enterprise'' * Drayjin * Gorn (in ENT only) * Sehlat * Tholian (in ENT only) * Wraith * Xindi-Aquatic * Xindi-Insectoid External link * de:CGI Category:Star Trek